Action Delayed in Israeli Security Probe

JERUSALEM —  A security scandal involving Israel’s version of the FBI threatened to erupt into a serious political confrontation here Friday as the country’s Supreme Court opened and then postponed deliberations in the case.

The scandal involves allegations that Avraham Shalom, head of the Shin Bet internal security service, falsified evidence and ordered his subordinates to lie about a 1984 incident in which two captured Arab hijackers were beaten to death by their Israeli interrogators.

The independent newspaper Haaretz quoted what it called a “well-informed source close to Shin Bet” on Friday as saying that Shalom has “a document that can substantiate the claim that all of his actions in the affair . . . received approval--either before or after the fact--from then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.”

Shamir, head of the rightist Likud Bloc, serves as foreign minister in Israel’s national unity government but is slated to move back into the prime minister’s job next October under a rotation provision of the coalition accord joining Likud and the Labor Alignment of Prime Minister Shimon Peres. The head of Shin Bet reports to the prime minister, but Shamir has refused comment on his role in the scandal except to say he “acted as a prime minister should have acted.”

Shamir was one of the ministers who opposed efforts by former Atty. Gen. Yitzhak Zamir to suspend Shalom while pursuing a probe of the scandal. Zamir was subsequently replaced in a move the government insisted was unrelated to the Shin Bet affair.

In an interview with the Jerusalem Post on Friday, Shamir specifically opposed “a police investigation and . . . a commission of inquiry.”

Meanwhile, three leaders of the centrist Labor Alignment on Friday endorsed a deeper investigation.

Education Minister Yitzhak Navon said in a television interview that “any attempt at a whitewash will harm Israel’s security,” and both he and Police Minister Chaim Bar-Lev endorsed a commission of inquiry.

Energy Minister Moshe Shahal warned in an interview with the leftist newspaper Al Hamishmar that any attempt to reach a “politically comfortable” compromise in the affair could cause future damage. He said he will insist on either a police investigation or a commission of inquiry into the affair.

Navon and Bar-Lev are both members of the so-called “inner cabinet” composed of five senior ministers from each of the two major political groups. And Shahal was a key figure in drafting the coalition agreement. Their comments thus suggest serious possible trouble ahead in the precariously balanced unity government.

Peres’ position on the case is unclear, although he has indicated that he opposes any public inquiry that could severely damage the Shin Bet. While he was not in the government at the time of the 1984 incident, he allegedly failed to take action last winter when three senior Shin Bet officers complained about Shalom’s conduct.

The three, who subsequently took their case to former Attorney General Zamir, were all either fired or forced to resign. One of them, Reuven Malka, appealed his dismissal to the Israeli Supreme Court, which heard initial arguments behind closed doors Friday.

Yosef Harish, the new attorney general, appeared on behalf of the Shin Bet chief Friday, according to Israel radio. He was granted a 10-day postponement in the case.